Libby Ward

Hard Work--Freshman Eli Sprenger displays the progress of the Sprenger House. The Sprengers have been working on the house for more than 350 hours!

How many high school students can say that they've had a hand in building a house? Nevertheless one they are going to live in?

Griswold Student Elijah Sprenger, a.k.a Eli (to most students and teachers) is currently a freshman who is building a house; here's the twist: this is a house his family and he plan to live in. The house is currently under construction near Athena.

Besides the other houses he's built with his father (who is a part-time contractor) in the past, this one is different in many more ways than one.

According to Sprenger, the property that they are currently building the house on had been wanted by his family for about 10 years! The owner of the property refused to sell it for a while, even backing out of the deal once when he had already agreed to sell. The family had been waiting years and years until he finally agreed after a long battle of persistence. “Once he finally agreed to sell it, my parents kind of jumped the gun,” Sprenger said about the property.

The young freshman student seems to think that the property owner was a little bit of a hoarder and wanted all of the house parts to himself. Once the Sprenger family finally had their grip on the property for real, they were already faced with a challenge. On the property was a very old house, and they were faced with two decisions: try and fix it up or tear it down. Unfortunately, the house had been too worn down to salvage anything.

“It was just so messed up that if we didn't tear it down, it would have collapsed in the next ten years,” said Eli. Eli hadn't been torn up over destroying the old house too much, but his family had been. The old structure had been an old stagecoach stop in the 1900’s. Eli said that many people would come over and show him pictures of what it used to look like.

While waiting for the house to be finished, the Sprengers reside in two different trailers. Eli, however, is living in a tent separately to get away from all of the family’s hustle and bustle, he is excited for the house to be finished but, “You get to see your progress as you move along, but then it kind of takes out the satisfaction of the new house feeling,” said Sprenger.

The house has taken a lot of work, but all of the Sprenger family has agreed that it’s been worth it. Even the oldest siblings who are no longer going to Helix High School have been pitching in.

Older brother and Helix alum, Jake Sprenger had to also agree that it is very hard work, “It’s rewarding but it’s definitely hard work,” said Jake. With the two of them paired together, they certainly have been the ones working on the house the most—besides their father of course.

The two boys claim that it’s been almost ‘tradition’ to build houses since they’ve done it ever since they could remember. In total, the Sprengers have built and sold about 6 houses. Jake Sprenger mainly does simple menial tasks. “Whatever my dad needs, mainly grunt work,” is how Jake describes his contributions.

Eli Sprenger seems to think that the work experience will be good for him in the future. “Everyone tells me that the house building experience is good, and I know it is, it's just hard,” said Eli.

Not many high school students globally have ever had a hand in building a house. Eli thinks that Helix High School students have many more opportunities to do so, however. “I think here in Helix most students have the opportunity to learn that stuff,” said Eli.

Overall, Eli Sprenger has accomplished some impressive feats, from building 6 houses in his lifetime to continuing to build that skill level;

The Sprenger family has accumulated more than 350 hours of construction time on their new house. In 5 weeks of his freshman year of high school, Eli hasn’t even attended that many hours of classes! One thing is for sure, they all can’t wait until its finally finished, especially Eli.

From Mozart to Taylor Swift, musicians have been making their mark all over the world, including new Griswold High School Sophomore Hailey Shepherd. Hailey Shepherd, 15, plays the cello, piano, and is currently teaching herself to play the guitar. Hailey has been playing music for most of her life. She has been playing the cello for 6 years, the piano for 2 years, and she’s been teaching herself to play the piano for 8 months so far. Music has been this young girl's passion since she picked up her first instrument. She's gone as far as to play at school and in front of her whole church. Her friends admire her for sticking through the long hours of practice and for how talented she is, including fellow sophomore Tiawna Terkelson. Tiawana states, “Saying that she plays 3 instruments I mean...that takes talent!”The young student has a lot of free time, since she does not participate in any sports. In her free time, she either draws or, of course, practices. It seems like this may be more than just a hobby, considering she practices for 45 minutes a day.Hailey’s music passion started in fifth grade. One day, as a special surprise, her teacher, Mrs. McKenna, brought in a cello and played for the whole class. Hailey found herself entranced with the beautiful music and sounds that the instrument made, and decided in that moment that she would play it, too. After that first experience, Hailey took up private lessons, having her teacher occasionally help her after school when she had the time. And since then, she's never been able to stop playing music. Hailey states that her uncle also played a huge role in her musical experience. He has inspired her to play music, saying that, “My uncle played in a symphony and so I felt like I could someday play in one.” Shepherd could go on and on about how her uncle inspires her and is her idol. Her mother also had an important part with her learning and playing the piano. Hailey says that, “Piano wasn't my choice My mom signed my step dad, my brother, and I up for piano lessons and eventually I actually wanted to play.” The way her uncle inspired her happened when she decided one day to attend a symphony in which he was performing. She found herself amazed with how the music made her feel, thus giving her uncle the title of who inspires her the most. Hailey plays the guitar as well. Hailey says, “We had a guitar kind of in a corner untouched so I decided to pick it up and start playing.” Ever since then, she's been playing the guitar, saying that she's been noticing how other people play and wants to get that tune herself. Even her best friend Tiawna says, “She could definitely go far if she wanted to with her music career.”Hailey just hasn't been doing music for herself. She has become involved at the East Oregon Symphony. She volunteered there simply because she wanted to help aspiring musicians. In this role, Shepherd has helped kids practice, tuning their instruments, helping them with certain notes, and even playing some instruments herself a little. At the end of this experience, she was paid but she didn't care about the money, she was there for the music, which goes to show how dedicated she is. As an aspiring musician, Hailey has made a small name for herself among her peers and her family. After already learning the cello and the piano, she is also teaching herself the guitar. Many can say that she is a talented individual and many of her friends believe that she can become a professional musician. Her passion is music and she finds it fulfilling to play. ​

Elizabeth Ward

Hi, hello, hola; or whatever greeting you like to use! My legal name is Elizabeth, however everyone knows me as Libby. However, you can call me whatever you want. Generally I like to think that I’m a very creative person. I draw, sometimes I sing, and my favorite hobby is writing. Currently I have an anthology online of short stories I’ve written and posted online to a website called Quotev. The response I got was astounding, so I’m going to continue posting on there. I chose Publications for this reason, and I can confidently say that I’ve learned a lot.​